It seems like a crazy idea to start this thread in a sudoku forum with a heavy British audience base... But since World Cup is not for another couple months and Chelsea has wrapped up the Premiership already (in the possible expense of Rooney and England's chance in Germany)... Well I wanna know how many (if any) people here are interested in both sudoku and basketball anyway...

I wanted to talk NBA also because this year is the first time I've witnessed in sport that tanking games became so obviously beneficial to some teams... But I think it's a beautiful thing that sometimes you got to think how to lose (without being too explicit) instead of winning to get into a better position later... It require so much more brain work... Sort of like that "adding a clue to make a sudoku puzzle harder" thing...

And this year's playoff has already produced some very exciting games... Kobe's miracle shots, etc... Expecting more...

Last edited by udosuk on Sat Dec 09, 2006 3:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

I know what you're saying about teams "tanking" to get a favorable first round opponent. It definitely didn't work for the Phoenix Suns even though I believe they did just that. The series isn't over yet, but I'd have to say their backs are against the wall. They claim to not be panicking though.

A little unrelated sports joke if I may:

After playing 18 holes of golf, our foursome was sitting around the clubhouse settling our bets when another golfer stormed in.Fuming after a lousy round, he slammed down his scorecard and announced, "If I wasn't married, I'd give this stupid game up!"

Hud, I don't think the Suns have "tanked" to get to their position... Didn't think they could catch either SA or Dallas anyway... But they surely don't deserve this... I think Nash is a great guy and it's unlucky that they lost Amare (again)...

Surely the Clippers showed how smart they were for dropping to #6 and got Denver with home court, and how dumb the Grizzlies were... And also the Mavs for giving up the #1 seed to avoid the Kings... Both "tanking" decisions have worked out great...

I guess once (if) the Suns are knocked out you'll lose all interest about all this... But I like your joke, guess some (more) NBA players will go playing some golf after the next few days...

And Luna, I'm surprised to see the Scots basketball team in the Commonwealth Games too... And they were doing not too bad BTW...

I follow the Suns ( sounds like a line from a song), but at my age, I can't stand watching them. I get too worked up. My daughter treated me to one game last season (04) and we sat about 10 rows above courtside. Luckily, they beat the Denver Nuggets by around 40 points.

There were reports right at the season's end that the Suns didn't want anything to do with the Sacramento Kings. The Kings were playing great and Ron Artest was really helping them a lot.

I really like the NBA playoffs and follow all of it pretty closely. Everyone here believes the Detroit Pistons are unbeatable, but anything can happen.

The Suns miss Amare terribly but overachieved without him. It also huirt them to lose Kurt Thomas (I think that's the name) their last remaining big (relatively) man. They have a couple big men on the bench but they are mostly stiffs.

Steve Nash is terrific both on and off the court. He was originally signed by Phoenix when most teams wouldn't have. One little known fact is that he was born in South Africa before his family moved to Canada. He volunteers a lot of time visiting sick children in hospitals. I read one article where he was to see a child for several minutes, and ended up talking to him for an hour.

I'm sorry to ramble about a sport that many of you have little interest in. Now you can understand me and soccer, rugby and cricket lol.

I love sports but sorry I'm not into NBA. I can however contribute another golf joke.

George, the reigning golf clubhouse champion, reluctantly had to explain how he was beaten by a local "hacker" (not a good golfer). Here's the story.

At the start of play, George's opponent declined a suggested 20 stroke start opting to take a two "gotcha" handicap. Whilst not familiar with a "gotcha" handicap, George hesitated but agreed to this offer seeing the game was to be played over eighteen holes and having previously seen the hacker playing.

As George was about to drive off the first tee, the hacker quietly approached him from behind and grabbed him [Edited by Luna - innappropriate] yelling out "gotcha". This distraction resulted in a double bogy for George on this hole.

After the game the members sympathized with George but were curious why he was beaten considering there were still 17 more holes to play.

"Well, put it this way" said George "have you ever tried to play 17 holes of golf not knowing when your opponent takes his second "gotcha".

Cec

This may have ruined the joke but it didn't pass the decency sensor, so was edited - Luna

I'm getting thick this time... What's the secret message behind all this?I've sent you a PM on this

BTW I think Luna has been a tad bit over-sensitive this time... In a recent NBA game, that particular action had just been famously performed by Reggie Evans of Denver Nuggets to Chris Kaman of Los Angeles Clippers. Let's say the word choices of many major sports news sites (which are supposed to have public audiences of all age groups worldwide) were much more liberal and colourful (or should I say colorful) then Cec's original description...

BTW Hud's favourite team has just won a game and staved off elimination... Guess he's in a better mood now...

I was looking for more upsets to happen but none occured yesterday... Guess I'm a tad bit disappointed... More than often I root for the underdogs...

udosuk wrote:BTW I think Luna has been a tad bit over-sensitive this time... In a recent NBA game, that particular action had just been famously performed by Reggie Evans of Denver Nuggets to Chris Kaman of Los Angeles Clippers. Let's say the word choices of many major sports news sites (which are supposed to have public audiences of all age groups worldwide) were much more liberal and colourful (or should I say colorful) then Cec's original description...

This is the Sudoku Forum. Off Topic conversation is allowed but not to the extent that I'll allow explicit vernacular in Sudoku puzzles or questionable phrases in jokes - you'll be familiar by now with the "Anything goes, but keep it seemly..." part of this section - what happens in NBA games or on other websites notwithstanding.